Chapter 87 - Moving Towards The Exit
Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue, and Liang Peng's faces turned extremely ugly upon hearing Chen He's words.
Shangguan Bing Xue and Liang Peng had experienced the power of a First Order creature first hand so they knew how terrifying those beasts were. While it was true that both of them had since become far stronger after absorbing the Soul Power of the Anti-Magic Zombie and other creatures, the fear still lingered.
Although Chen He had not said how many First Order creatures there were in that strange forest he mentioned having found in the middle of the university, only three or four of those monsters were enough to cause problems for the current group... As for if there were more than that amount and they attacked all together, then it would be difficult to survive.
Even Bai Zemin himself had no confidence in facing many First Order existences unless he himself completed his own evolution.
If it was two or maybe three at the same time, then he could somehow manage if he put his life on the line during combat. However, more than that number was beyond his ability, which made him feel helpless.
It's still not enough... I really am still too weak. If only I could kill several tens or several hundreds at the same time, how good would it be? Bai Zemin secretly sighed.
If Lilith knew his thoughts she might die due to anger. He was already the biggest anomaly she had ever seen in her entire life or heard of since the appearance of the first intelligent being, but he still seemed to be unsatisfied.
"How many of those creatures did you see? Even if you don't know the exact number you should have a rough idea, shouldn't you?" Bai Zemin asked after a moment's consideration.
While knowing the truth could sometimes become demoralizing, if a person sank into fantasies of lies then it was only a matter of time before they died in this world.
To survive, Bai Zemin understood that not only strength was needed but also to be realistic and accept things as they were no matter how difficult they were. Otherwise anyone could end up being devoured not by an enemy but by oneself.
Chen He took a deep breath and looked at everyone present before saying with a tinge of fear in his voice: "At the very least... there should be about seven creatures of the First Order... As for the maximum number, my estimate is around a dozen."
"Seven minimum and a dozen maximum...?" Liang Peng muttered in disbelief, remembering the speed and combat prowess of the Anti-Magic Zombie that nearly cut him in two.
Everyone held their breath and looks of despair flashed in the eyes of some of them.
Although Fu Xuefeng and the rest had no idea how strong a First Order creature really was, they could remember the oppressive feeling coming from the dead body of the giant beetle and the blue-skinned mutated zombie. Besides, it didn't take a genius as the expressions on the faces of those who had faced such beings said enough to make words unnecessary.
After several seconds of uncomfortable silence and under an oppressive atmosphere, Bai Zemin's voice called out:
"It seems we need to prepare a few things before we leave if we want to get the other survivors out of this place. Otherwise, the chances of even one of them surviving will be practically 0%."
If Bai Zemin wanted to leave alone then he was confident that except for Agility-based First Order creatures like the Shadow Tiger, no other creature or existence could really stop their footsteps unless one of them had a strange skill. However, if he wanted to go off on his own he would have tried it long ago instead of staying here trying to raise a power by himself.
Shangguan Bing Xue also calmed down after a deep breath that accentuated her perfect body even more. She nodded and spoke calmly, "That's right. It looks like we need to adjust a few things."
Even without Bai Zemin saying anything, she had already understood a few things and various ideas were constantly forming in her mind.
After a brief discussion, the group called the survivors together again and a group of them began to set to work on the task assigned by Bai Zemin.
While the survivors were doing their part, Bai Zemin met with Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, Liang Peng, and the rest to discuss some final outlines of the plan. If the plan succeeded then they could probably retreat without casualties, but if the plan failed then it would be difficult for the vast majority of them to survive.
* * *
Because Bai Zemin and the rest were somewhat tired after working all day modifying the ten buses and because the sun had already begun to descend on the horizon, they all went to sleep after dinner.
With the start of day number eleven since the arrival of the Soul Record on Earth, the ten buses were fully loaded.
The end seats were removed and the freezers were filled with meat and all kinds of perishable food. On top of the freezers were placed the bags of food, and the survivors who now numbered just over four hundred after the previous day's massacre, were able to settle in with ease and comfort.
One of the buses carried only three things; the corpse of the Shadow Tiger, the headless body of the Platinum Ape, and the body of the Fast Mantis. Although it was somewhat problematic to carry the Silver Ape's body inside, on top it was easy and with Liang Peng and Zhong De working together they managed to lift the beast's body without any problems.
In fact, there was even enough space left over to carry all the clothes they had obtained from the male and female dormitory earlier as well as other types of utilities.
Unlike the female dormitory, which had several survivors thanks to the strange behavior of the First Order Anti-Magic Zombie, the students who had barricaded themselves in the male dormitory had not been so lucky.
Two days ago, when Bai Zemin and the rest arrived at the male dormitory, the doors had been broken down and the survivors inside had already turned into zombies or had simply been eaten by other zombies or some other creature.
The buses were started by their respective drivers and slowly and orderly began to move. The engines roared in sync, attracting the attention of the distant zombies who with overwhelmingly slow speeds began to stagger toward the scene.
The small convoy of ten vehicles circled the main street on the north side of the university that connected to the south side and the only exit from the facility that allowed buses to pass.
Although the road had already been cleared once for the most part, it was impossible to wipe out all the zombies considering their numbers unless one was willing to spend several days searching and hunting; therefore, occasionally a few zombies would appear in the middle of the road. However, the drivers, who were normal survivors, did not bother with them and simply continued to push on without altering the course in the slightest.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!...
The buses, which had been modified and reinforced using the First Order Blazing Beetle's shell, viciously hit the zombies and sent them flying several meters.
Some zombies had their skulls directly crushed by the heavy collision while some luckier ones got back on their feet with some ignored bone fractures or simply crawled on their hands after losing mobility in their lower bodies.